


Not a Good Soldier, But a Brave Woman

by arachnidstardis



Series: Hit 'em Again, Cap!, or Peggy is Captain America and everything is wonderful [1]
Category: Agent Carter (TV), Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, F/M, Fem!Red Skull, Genderbending, M/M, Peggy!Cap, Peggy!Captain America, eventual James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-07
Updated: 2015-03-07
Packaged: 2018-03-16 17:01:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3496076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arachnidstardis/pseuds/arachnidstardis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As the Second World War rages in Europe, Peggy Carter wants nothing more than to be on the front lines, defending her home- and adopted countries.  Instead, she is stuck in New York City, and her best friend Angie is about to head off to the front lines.  After many, many failed attempts to join the army due to her many medical conditions, she is chosen as a last-minute recruit into Project Rebirth, where she meets Agent Steve Rogers of the Strategic Science Reserve.</p><p>Inspired by some art on tumblr that I adored, with the encouragement of sonickitty. This is the first part of the series, which will be a retelling of The First Avenger.  The second part will be Agent Carter, and if I'm ambitious enough, there might be a third part with The Winter Soldier.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not a Good Soldier, But a Brave Woman

**Author's Note:**

> _Peggy straightened up, brushing her dress off and picking up her bag from where it was knocked off her shoulder._   
>  _“Y’know Marge, sometimes I think you like getting punched. You ever think about keepin’ your pretty Brit mouth shut sometimes? I think you might stop breaking your nose if you do!”_   
>  _“I can handle myself, thank you very much.”_   
>  _Angie snorted. “Sure seemed like it.”_   
> 

_“It’s not for the eyes of ordinary men!”_

_“Exactly.”_

_Johanna Schmidt walked away from the carving of Yggdrasil, lifting the lid of the wooden drawer.  The sharp angles of her face were washed with bright turquoise light, and she lifted her eyes to grin at the caretaker._

_“Give the order to open fire,” she purred to the soldiers._

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“O'Connell, Michael.”

The man sitting all the way on the right of a row of chairs in the recruitment office folded his newspaper and got up, his shirt folded and tucked under the seat.  The other two newspapers in the row stayed raised.  

“Kaminski, Barbara.”

Across the room, another newspaper is folded and put away, the woman’s overshirt tucked under the chair, but her sleeveless undershirt still in place.  She was taller and bulkier than the last man to stand, and sauntered over to the counter.  

“Man, it almost makes you think twice about enlisting, doesn’t it?” The man now at the end of his newspaper folded his and rests it in his lap, striking up conversation with the hopeful recruit to his right.

“Carter, Margaret.”

The man’s conversational partner folded her newspaper, her large undershirt hanging off of her much smaller frame, collarbone and wrists clearly defined against her pale skin.

“Not at all,” she smiled, and sauntered up to the line like a woman twice her size.  

\----

Peggy adjusts the scarf around her neck, pulling it a little tighter against the chill of the New York winter.  She was wearing socks under her socks and the thickest sweater she owned, but the chill still crawled down her throat and settled in her lungs with every breath.  Ducking into the movie theater, she panted until her breath stopped rattling and padded to the ticket counter.  

“One, please?” She requested, on her toes with her fingers digging into the edge of the counter.

The attendant gave her a quick glance at the sound of her voice, then accepted the coins she shoved under the glass.  

“Sure, sweetheart.”  

Peggy accepted the ticket stub and her change, a nervous hand adjusting her skirt as she scurried into the theater.  She settled towards the back of the theater, pulling scraps of paper and her last piece of charcoal from her pocketbook, as well as a hunk of wood rescued from a dumpster.  The ripped pieces of butcher paper, too small for anyone else to reuse, were presents, pilfered away by her friend when she could.  

The newsreel started up.  Peggy started sketching fast and loose, the blurry figures on-screen taking form on her papers.  Mid-way through a segment on helping the war effort, there was a yell.

“Who cares!”

Peggy gritted her teeth and kept drawing, fleshing out a child pulling a wagon.  The charcoal felt like velvet between her fingers.  

“Play the movie already!”

Her head shot up and she bared her teeth, yelling back.  “Show some respect, would you please?”

The source of the shouts stood up, a burly figure blocking her already-muddy view of the screen.  They loomed for a moment before sitting back down, and Peggy breathed out a breath she wasn’t aware she was holding.  

There was a clunking noise as the movie reel skipped a bit, and the cartoon started up, and Peggy settled back down into her seat, sketching a cartoon bear roaring.  

\-----

The reel spun to a stop as people filed out of the theater.  Peggy carefully stacked her papers one on top of the other, then tied them to the block of wood with a scrap of string.  That and the charcoal, wrapped in a piece of ragged cloth, all went back in her bag.  She hurried out of the theater, waving at the ticket clerk on her way to the door, already thinking of what Angie might have brought back for dinner.

_There isn’t any meat left unless she’s wheedled another favor, but we do have some canned vegetables -_

Her thoughts were cut off as she was suddenly dragged into an alley by the back of her collar and flung into a wooden fence.  

“Excuse me!”  She jumped up straightening the strap of her bag and glaring indignantly at her aggressor.  By his build, he was the same man who had been complaining in the theater.  

“You’re a saucy dame, aren’t ya?”  The man leered.  “I’ll teach you to talk back.”  He threw a punch at Peggy’s face, too quick for her to dodge, and she hit the fence again.  

Peggy jumped up, attempting to cover her face with her fists as she tasted the blood running into her mouth.  

The man laughed.  “You just don’t know when to give up, do you?”

“I could do this all day,” she grinned back, dodging a punch to pick up a trash can lid, holding it to her chest.  

The man rolled his eyes and yanked the lid away, kneeing Peggy in the chest.  She hit the ground again for the third time in as many minutes.  

 

“Say, why don’t you pick on someone your own size?”

A woman in army green sauntered into the alley right up to the stocky man, looking him straight in the eye.  “Big man like you shouldn’t pick on such tiny dames.  Try me on for size,” she said.  As he lunged for her, she dragged her foot back and decked him.  He staggered back, then edged around her to leave the alleyway.

“Dolly ain’t worth my time anyhow,” he muttered, adjusting his collar.  

Peggy straightened up, brushing her dress off and picking up her bag from where it was knocked off her shoulder.  

“Y’know, Marge, sometimes I think you like getting punched.  You ever think about keepin’ your pretty Brit mouth shut sometimes?  I think you might stop breaking your nose if you do!”  

“I can handle myself, thank you very much.”

Angie snorted.  “Sure seemed like it.”  She pulled a handkerchief out of her pocket and stepped towards Peggy, reaching out with both hands.  “C’mere, doll.”

Peggy grabbed the cloth, wiping her nose with it and dabbing her mouth.  “Did you get your orders?”

Angie snapped to attention, making a mock salute while pursing her lips and bugging her eyes. “Sergeant Angie Martinelli, shipping out for England first thing tomorrow morning!” She relaxed and shot a grin at Peggy.  “Equal opportunity and all that jazz.  I don’t mind the promotion.”

Peggy smiled, trying not to let her displeasure make it to her eyes.  “Congratulations.”

“But what am I saying?  It’s my last night in the city!  C’mon, Pegs, let’s head back and get you cleaned up.  I have plans!” She held out her arm.  

Shaking her head, Peggy slipped her arm through Angie’s to link elbows.  “What do you have in mind?”

 

 

 

 

 

 

_“Tell me, Dr. Zola, what do think?”_

_Arnim Zola gulped as Schmidt turned around, the Tesseract gripped tightly between the tongs in her hand.  She grinned wildly, eyes bulging in part from her elation and part from how tight her hair was pulled back into a bun._

_“The power of the gods….. Is ours.”_

 

 

 

 

 

****  
  
  


 

**Author's Note:**

> http://sonickitty.tumblr.com/post/112072054165/maria-tries-au-in-which-everything-is-flipped  
> Above is the post that inspired everything. Enjoy!! 
> 
> Next: Steve is introduced and enthralled, Peggy becomes an Amazon, Steve continues to be impressed, and Hydra are dicks to everyone.


End file.
